1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus, a method, and a system for capturing image data from negotiable instruments such as checks used for settling transactions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Checks and other such negotiable instruments are widely used to settle commercial transactions and to pay for purchases in stores and restaurants. This payment process is described below using checks by way of example. An account number and related information is generally printed on the face of a check as magnetic ink character data (MICR) enabling the account information to be read automatically for verification with the financial institution.
When a check is used for payment in a retail store, for example, the payee, date, and amount are printed on the face of the check after the check is verified, and the verification number, date, amount, and other endorsement information is automatically printed on the back of the check using a printer. After the store has finished processing the check, the check is typically delivered to the bank or other financial institution where the final payment process (check clearing) is completed. Electronic payment has been promoted in recent years as a way to increase the efficiency of the payment process by electronically sending the transaction data and images of the printed front and back of the check to the financial institution. The financial institution stores the received image data and magnetic ink character data captured from the check in a searchable format so that the information can be verified when a question or problem occurs.
If the image data captured from a check is large, more time is required for communicating and processing the image data, and high capacity storage devices enabling high-speed access are necessary. Using an RS-232C serial communications interface, for example, it can take several tens of seconds to transmit a 100 kilobyte image data file. This problem can be alleviated using image data compression techniques, but it is still preferable for the image data to be as small as possible.